I have an issue where I'm trying to deploy a driver installation via an MSI Installer, it contains the .CAT and .INF files and outputs them to a directory, typically from here an infrastructure engineer could right click the .INF file and press install, however we're trying to streamline this process and automate this step.
Via C# I have a class utilising the System.Diagnostics.Process namespace to spawn a powershell process to run a powershell script containing a simple command as follows:
var process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
var newProcessInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();
string powerShellScript = #"C:\PowershellScript\DriverInstall.ps1"
newProcessInfo.FileName = #"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"
newProcessInfo.Verb = "runas";
string newArgs = "-File " + powerShellScript;
newProcessInfo.Arguments = newArgs;
process.StartInfo = newProcessInfo;
process.Start();
Powershell script command is as follows:
Get-ChildItem "C:\DriverLocation" -Recurse -Filter "*inf" | ForEach-Object {PNPUtil.exe /add-driver $_.FullName /install }
when running this from powershell it works as expected, however if I try and spawn a powershell process from a C# class it doesn't work, comes up with some red error message text but the process windows spawns and closes immediately so I can't identify what the error is.
Essentially I either need the output from the powershell process to a text file or I need the powershell window to persist so I can identify why the script won't work when running from the System.Diagnostics.Process namespace.
I have tried editing the registries so that powershell will remain open to no avail.
Please don't suggest using the System.Management.Automation.Powershell namespace because utilisation of .NET core is unavailable in our project scenario.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, any help is much appreciated.
Resolution was to specify the execution policy within the powershell script, when running from the powershell window it had local admin rights and therefore didn't need an execution policy specified, however because it was being spawned from a separate process it only had remote access rights, therefore it wouldn't allow the script to execute.. never managed to output the particular error message but by process of elimination identified the resolution.
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope LocalMachine
Related
I have an elevated C# exe file that can run elevated commands using System.Diagnostics.Process just fine, however I need to run a specifically unelevated command - that being subst. I am not sure whether I should (or respectively could) make a secondary .exe file or .bat or something?
There is an alternative, as there is only one command that requires admin privileges to run - that being a WSL mount command. Can I make the C# script unelevated and just elevate that one specific command, or vice versa?
I've tried using runas /trustlevel:0x20000, but that throws an access denied (even though the directory being accessed by the SUBST command is \\WSL$\
As for the alternative solution I've tried the following code:
startInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";
startInfo.Arguments = $"/c powershell -command wsl --mount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 --partition 2;pause"
startInfo.Verb = "runas";
Process proc = Process.Start(startInfo)
proc.WaitForExit();
That opens up an UAC prompt, opens up an elevated powershell Window, but for some reason doesn't recognize "WSL" as a command, even when using it's absolute path.
Fixing either method would fix the issue.
I am trying to insert msi file using asp.net application. when i run visual studio in administrators mode it is working fine but when i run it in normal mode it is not working.
I had tried following code:
string installerFilePath;
installerFilePath = #"D:\ActivexPractice\test\test\NewFolder1\setup.msi";
System.Diagnostics.Process installerProcess = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(installerFilePath, "/q");
can any body guide me on this
how to install it without administrators right
You can use msiexec.exe to run installer. Here is sample code.
Process installerProcess = new Process();
ProcessStartInfo processInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
processInfo.Arguments = #"/i D:\ActivexPractice\test\test\NewFolder1\setup.msi /q";
processInfo.FileName = "msiexec";
installerProcess.StartInfo = processInfo;
installerProcess.Start();
installerProcess.WaitForExit();
If the MSI requires admin rights to install then it will ask for elevation in a UI install. Your /q is failing because a silent install is really silent and will not prompt for elevation. Note that limited users are not allowed to break security rules simply because they are doing an install.
So in that situation your launching process would need to be elevated, either by running as administrator or giving it a requiresAdministrator manifest so it asks for elevation.
When you fire off the install you need to make sure that your elevated state is used to fire off the install. The simplest way to guarantee this is to just call (p/invoke to...) MsiInstallProduct () directly from your code. The issue with Process.Start is that by default ProcessStartInfo.UseShellExecute is true and your elevated state (if you have one) will not be used to start the install. When the install is launched it needs to be a CreateProcess type of execution rather than a ShellExecute type so that your elevated credentials are used.
static void installMSIs(string path)
{
string[] allFiles = Directory.GetFiles(path, "*.msi");
foreach (string file in allFiles)
{
System.Diagnostics.Process installerProcess =
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(file, "/q");
while (installerProcess.HasExited == false)
{
installerProcess.WaitForExit();
}
}
}
I have a .exe file which checks the system architecture and based on the system architecture it calls the corresponding msi file.
I am trying to run this exe file from C# using the code below
Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo.FileName = "my.exe";
process.StartInfo.Arguments = "/quiet";
process.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
process.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "path//to//exe//directory";
Console.WriteLine(process.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory);
process.Start();
process.WaitForExit();
The exe is getting invoked. i can see the application logs and there are no errors in the logs.
But the msi is not getting started or installed.
When I try to run the same exe file manually the msi is installed.
Note: There are other dependency files for this my.exe which are placed in the same directory.
Why am i not able to install the msi from C# program while i am able to do this manually.
I am running the VisualStudios in administrator mode.
You need to execute .exe (and msi) as an administrator.
To ensure that, use:
process.StartInfo.Verb = "runas"
Also, try it removing quiet arguments to see any possible errors.
Is "my.exe" installing your MSI if you call it, isn't it?
I got this resolved after i added Thread.Sleep(). before "process.WaitForExit()"
I'm working on an application that will run as a windows service, and I'm trying to get it to update itself automatically.
My current approach is to to execute a powershell script, which will stop the service, run a msi installer, and then restart the service.
This is what the powershell script looks like at this time
Start-Sleep -s 10
Write-Host "update start"
Stop-Service ServiceName1
msiexec /i c:\ProgramData\ProgramName\Install\ServiceName.Setup.msi /passive /l*v C:\ProgramData\ProgramName\Install\log.txt | Out-Null
Start-Service ServiceName1
Write-Host "update finished"
This is how I'm running it from the app
Process.Start("Powershell", #"C:\ProgramData\ProgramName\Install\UpdateApp.ps1");
What happens, is the service stops and restarts, but it doesn't update. It's as though the msi never gets run. The log file doesn't even appear.
When I run the Service as a command line app from an elevated command prompt it works as expected and the app gets updated, so My current theory is that the service isn't running the powershell script with administrator privileges.
Other questions suggest that I set up the log on settings for the service to use an administrator account, so I set the service to run as the account that I was currently logged in under, who was able to open an elevated command prompt and/or manually run the installer, but doing that didn't change anything.
Is there any way to do what I'm trying to do?
I'm currently not committed to any particular automatic update strategy, but I do know that I want this service to update itself. So if I'm doing something completely wrong, I'm 100% open to attempting a different approach.
UPDATE:
I made the following change to log the error and output for msiexecc
Try{
c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe /i c:\ProgramData\ProgramName\Install\ServiceName.msi /passive /l*v C:\ProgramData\ProgramName\Install\log.txt | Out-File -filepath C:\ProgramData\ProgramName\Install\output.txt
}
Catch {
$_ | Out-File C:\ProgramData\ProgramName\Install\errors.txt -Append
}
After running that script, I found the following error:
The term 'msiexec' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program..
It looks like the call to msiexec isn't actually targeting c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe
As per this question it seems that Powershell does not use the standard PATH environment variable, but has its own scheme, which perhaps doesn't work as expected in the context of a system service.
The simplest resolution, as you say, is to specify the full path, which is probably c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe.
However, in production, it would probably be wise to avoid the use of a hardcoded path, since you might run into problems with localization, operating system changes, and so on. You could perhaps use SearchPath or a .NET equivalent from your service and either write out the Powershell script in real time or pass the path to msiexec as a command-line option, or there may be a sensible Powershell solution.
i have a powershell script file, and a bat file, the bat file runs the script, so when i double click
the bat file the script get executed.
in my code i do the following:
ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo(#batchfilename + ".bat");
Process processToStart = new Process();
processToStart.StartInfo = info;
processToStart.Start();
the batch gets executed and the powershell scripts starts, but it crashes telling me somthing about policy issue.
allthoug my policy is unrestrected, any ideas?
You need to set Execution Policy to unrestricted MSDN.
Execution Policies (From the above MSDN link)
Restricted - No scripts can be run. Windows PowerShell can be used only in interactive mode.
AllSigned - Only scripts signed by a trusted publisher can be run.
RemoteSigned - Downloaded scripts must be signed by a trusted publisher before they can be run.
Unrestricted - No restrictions; all Windows PowerShell scripts can be run.
For 64 bit system, it needs to be set separately for x86, and x64.
PowerShell 32 and 64 bit have different execution policy settings
powershell.exe c:\FULL_PATH\send.ps1